<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Oh, would you still offer your embrace (if it's another place you'd find me in?) by theonewiththeWeirdEye</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24595984">Oh, would you still offer your embrace (if it's another place you'd find me in?)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonewiththeWeirdEye/pseuds/theonewiththeWeirdEye'>theonewiththeWeirdEye</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mianite - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, GTA V AU, M/M, Pirate AU, Travelling through universes and stuff, War AU, Witcher AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:13:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,454</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24595984</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonewiththeWeirdEye/pseuds/theonewiththeWeirdEye</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He has something written on the side of the picture:<br/>“Things to love the list<br/>1. Ø<br/>2. Øone your eyes forever<br/>3. Too too 2 many things”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tom Cassell/Jordan Maron</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Oh, would you still offer your embrace (if it's another place you'd find me in?)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A man in his bunk takes out a picture in his pocket and stares at it. It’s the last picture he took of Thomas, his lover, before being drafted into the military and forced to serve his country. That’s where he is now, fighting for his country.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took the picture on Christmas night the previous year, 1940. He was arriving late to the party and saw his lover at the window. He took the opportunity to snap a picture of him, then knocked on the window. When his lover looked at him with the warmest smile, and from the outside he mouthed:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You look dreamy tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His lover laughed, although he couldn’t hear it, he still cherished every moment of it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He has something written on the side of the picture:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Things to love the list</span>
</p>
<ol>
<li><span> Ø</span></li>
<li>
<span>Øone</span><span> your eyes forever</span>
</li>
<li><span> Too too 2 many things”</span></li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He keeps the written part folded over so the other soldiers can't see when he looks at it every night with the light of a small candle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They ask who the man in the picture is and "someone important to me who died" because that's easier to explain somehow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he comes back home, people keep telling him that his lover actually died, that there was a bombing in the port while he waited for someone whose name he never spoke of. People thought of the man as mad. Every single day waiting for this unknown person. There was no way he would've survived that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man never broke down as hard as he did at that moment, he even ran to where the bombing happened, screaming for Thomas in desperation. Even his lover’s father told him there was no use in searching for him any longer</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The army man gave up that very night, he just couldn't take it anymore. He would be nothing without his love.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>On an island, the time unknown, a boy stumbled upon a photo of a man on the ground, a really old looking picture, dated 1940 (he couldn’t remember what year was currently), with a man so beautiful, he almost lost his breath. There's a name on the back that signs the owner of the picture. "Jordan S. Maron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Weird." He thought out loud since his name matched the one from the back of the picture. There was something in him telling him to search for this man in the picture. And search he did. Far and wide, high and low, trying to at least find an answer to the whereabouts of this mysterious beautiful man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A ship came to the island he was stuck on. Jordan didn’t even get a say, he was immediately captured by the pirates and forced to slave away on the ship. For a while, that was how his life was. Sweeping floors, cleaning shit, being pushed around, and yelled at constantly. It wasn’t a pleasant life. He would spend the days working and the nights just staring emptily at the picture of the man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One night he almost lost the picture. The Captain caught him staring at it and ripped it out of his hands. Jordan never screamed so loud in his life. He couldn’t lose the picture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He used his chains to choke out the Captain, taking his picture back when the Captain stopped breathing. A few pirates heard the commotion and came to see the scene, their Captain dead at the feet of the slave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>From that day on, Jordan became a Captain himself. The Captain of the ship that captured him and made him a slave. It was pirate law or something. He wasn’t the most ruthless pirate in the world, but his devotion to balance scared the rest of the pirates. There was no messing with the Captain if you messed with the balance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a while, the ship traveled aimlessly, Jordan refusing to tell his crew where they were going. The truth was that he didn’t know himself where he was going. Just that he needed to find the man in the picture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He arrived on an island one day. He saw smoke coming from it and went to see what was happening. The forest was on fire, a volcano erupted. He saw someone on the shore, so he got down to the island to see if it could be a potential survivor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His breath got caught in his throat as he saw the man in the picture laying on the beach of the island. He ran to him as fast as he could, falling to his knees to check his pulse, to check any signs of life. But he could feel nothing. Nothing at all. His purpose, his reason for living, was dead in his arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He put heavy rocks in both of their pockets and pouches, then picked up the man, and started heading into the waves and slowly sinking with them.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>As he was riding on a horse, a piece of paper flew into a man’s face, making him stop in his tracks. It was a really detailed small painting of a man, man so beautiful, he almost lost his breath. There's a name on the back that signs the owner of the picture. "Jordan S. Maron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Weird." He thought out loud since his name matched the one from the back of the picture. There was something in him telling him to search for this man in the picture. So he did. Not like he had anything better to do. He was a Witcher, constantly on the run, not belonging to anywhere or anyone. So finding a man from a painting that had his name written on felt right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stopped at a tavern in a nearby town and showed off the painting to people. Most did not recognize the man at all. Jordan huffed. Well, this would be harder than he expected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He traveled to a different kingdom eventually, showing off the picture at every stop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, someone recognized him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s the Prince, Witcher. Better get rid of the picture before someone tells on you that you have some painting of him. It’s not gonna bide well for you.” A drunken man told him after he downed his fifth mead of the night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan was quiet as he put the painting back in his pouch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is the Prince’s name?” He asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You should know. It’s Thomas.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thomas, huh?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He left the tavern late in the night and went to the castle. He didn’t want to enter, he just wanted to see him, just to confirm that the Prince was really who he was looking for.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he could get close to the castle, a hooded figure ran into him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whoa, I am so deeply sorry! I did not mean to bust into you like that!” The hooded figure said. The voice felt so familiar, yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan lifted his candle to see the man better. When he did, he saw that the hood fell off the man’s head. That was when he realized. That was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Thomas</span>
  </em>
  <span>. That was the man he was looking for.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re… the prince? What are you doing out here so late?” Jordan asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re a witcher, what are you doing near the castle?” The Prince immediately snarked back. Jordan couldn’t help but laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thomas crossed his arms together and puffed his chest. God, he was so adorable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His thoughts were cut off when he heard shouts from nearby. When he went to warn the Prince, he saw a sword pushed through his chest and Jordan’s eyes went wide. Masked men stared right at the Witcher. He could see the one that had his sword in the Prince smirking at him as he pulled his sword out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan was raging. He chased after the masked men as far as he could but eventually lost them. He went back to where the Prince died and dropped to his knees. He wanted to cry, to scream, but did none of those.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the guards came in, they accused Jordan of murdering the Prince. He didn’t even argue with them. He felt like he did anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Witcher was executed the following day for the murder of Prince Thomas of Cassell.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>As he was running on the streets of Los Santos, a man tripped and stumbled upon a photo of a man on the ground, a really old looking picture, dated 1940, with a man so beautiful, he almost lost his breath. There's a name on the back that signs the owner of the picture. "Jordan S. Maron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Weird." He thought out loud since his name matched the one from the back of the picture. There was something in him telling him to search for this man in the picture. But right then he was busy running away. The police were after him after all. He pocketed the picture and took off once again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hid between the large brushes of a car wash and waited until the police passed, making sure no camera was following him (luckily for him, that car wash had only one CCTV near the front of its store and none at the car wash itself). From between the brushes, he managed to take off his mask, change his clothes, and put the cash into a backpack, different from the bag he was carrying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You motherfucker, you made it!” he heard a voice coming through his earpiece. Jordan couldn’t help but grin smugly. The voice belonged to Declan, one of his crewmates. “I mean it should’ve been obvious, cuz you’re the boss. Still in awe of it every time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan shook his head as he looked for the bus station to find his way back to the HQ. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> big of a deal,” Jordan said, even though it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> that big of a deal. “We’ve been doing this for years, haven’t we?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You got a point, boss.” Declan agreed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On the bus to the HQ, Jordan couldn’t stop staring at the picture. The man felt familiar, yet he had no idea who he was. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Weeks passed, Jordan didn’t forget about the picture, but he was a little too busy with his crew to be able to constantly search for a man who could probably be dead by now. He looked at the picture again as he sat on the rooftop of a building with his sniper rifle resting just barely over the edge. He sighed. Why was he so obsessed with finding this man?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, that could wait, he had a job to finish. He looked through the sniper rifle and tried to find his target. The sight of blue hair caught his attention. When he finally focused on the person, it was… the man in the picture. He held his breath as he watched him, happily chatting away with some people. He also spotted his target, chatting with the man. Through the bug planted in the room, he could hear their conversation. They mostly talked about business, selling and renting houses, the state of real estate, stuff that Jordan didn’t really care about. He then finally heard it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Tom</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was the man’s name. Tom. Thomas. That name felt so familiar. He tried to listen further, maybe he could hear his last name. When it sounded like the target was about to say his full name, Dec came through his earpiece and completely cut the audio from the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing, Cap? You have a perfect shot!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan groaned. He lined up his shot again, moving it away from the man with blue hair, and focused it on the target. Then he shot. Straight in the head. Before the target even dropped down on the floor, Jordan picked up his grappling hook and shot it to the other building, sliding on the wire to the other side and breaking through the window. The rest of his crew also came in, guns out. More people came in, shots started being fired everywhere. Jordan went straight for the blue-haired man who looked scared and confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Get out of here, Tom!” Jordan yelled and tried to push Tom away into the hallway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But before he could do so, a member from the other crew shot Tom in the abdomen and he dropped down dead. Jordan had never screamed so loud in his life. He was stunned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Jordan could do anything, he got shot in the chest and dropped down on the ground, his crewmates screaming after him. He didn’t survive, but maybe it was better that way.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Jordan gasped as he woke up, then a nurse immediately told him to calm down. It was one of the crew nurses. He didn’t die.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he blacked out again, he asked the nurse “Did he live too?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t manage to hear the nurse’s answer as darkness took over once again.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>After waking up a couple more times, undergoing some surgery, and weeks of healing passed, Jordan was finally allowed to leave the medical ward of their HQ.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He found Dec first.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You look much better, boss.” Dec smiled at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I guess.” Jordan looked very lost, the memory of Tom being shot in the chest haunting his mind. “Do you know who had been leaving me flowers?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, you don’t know?” Dec asked surprised. “Huh, you two didn’t manage to catch each other…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Who?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tom? The guy with blue hair you jumped in front of a bullet for?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tom was alive?! Jordan’s eyes went wide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where is he?” Jordan grabbed Dec by the shoulders and shook him until he answered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jeez, slow down man, he should be somewhere around HQ, I don’t know!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jordan immediately took off through the HQ. He needed to find Tom again. He needed to make sure he actually was alive and this wasn’t some sick joke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where are you running, mate?” The British accent was unmistakable. “Aren’t you supposed to re-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Tom could finish his sentence, Jordan went to hug him tightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so happy to see you again, Tom.” He couldn’t help the tears streaming down his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Again?</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he caught himself saying. When did he meet this man again? As far as he knew this was the first time he’d seen him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I missed you too, dummy.” Tom said, a smile on his face, his voice sounding rough from trying to keep himself from crying as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those words felt like warm honey being dripped on his heart. It hurt, even though he couldn’t quite remember. And Tom couldn’t remember either.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But maybe it was better if they never knew the tragedy of their love story.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>